Toronto Maple Leafs Regular Season+ Playoff Grades

Simon Benoit Grade: C+

I think this is one you could pretty much argue any grade you wanted. This year, Benoit was excellent defensively ranking in the top 28% of defensemen in defensive WAR and in the top 27% in penalty kill WAR.

However, Benoit is an abysmal puck mover ranking in the bottom one percent of defensemen in zone exits and in the bottom two percent in exit success rate while also being a complete blackhole in the offensive end.

As good as Benoit is defensively, he's so bad offensively that it almost doesn't matter. His errors kill any effectiveness he has because without scoring, there is no way to make up for them.

Mark Giordano Grade: B

Giordano battled through multiple injuries this season, which kept him out of just under half of the Maple Leafs games. But at 40 years old, this is something we could have probably expected from the guy who has blocked the most shots in NHL History.

Despite the injuries, Giordano was very productive when he was in the lineup. He finished second among Leafs defensemen who played 20 or more games in five-on-five goal percentage and second in five-on-five expected goal percentage.

Giordano ranked in the top 22 percent of defensemen in offensive WAR and the top 33 percent in defensive WAR; the only reason I can't grade him higher is that we did not see enough of him.

Hopefully, Gio is willing to come back again on the league minimum to play the seventh defenseman role, but I would not be shocked to see him hang the skates up after getting beat up this season.